LitPDX seeks to amplify marginalized voices, and welcomes all, their ideas, their events, and their words.

For details regarding specific events please contact the organizers or venues. If you are an organizer or venue and would like to reach out to us please feel free to contact us or submit an event using our submission form. We’d love to hear from you!

Loading Events

« All Events

  • This event has passed.

Claude Johnson in Conversation With Keith Houlemard

August 1, 2022 @ 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Free
View Venue Website, 1005 W Burnside Street, Portland, OR 97209 + Google Map

From the introduction of the game of basketball to Black communities on a wide scale in 1904 to the racial integration of the NBA in 1950, dozens of African American teams were founded and flourished. This period, known as the Black Fives Era (teams at the time were often called “fives”), was a time of pioneering players and managers. They battled discrimination and marginalization and created culturally rich, socially meaningful events. But despite headline-making rivalries between big-city clubs, the savvy moves of innovative businessmen, and the undeniable talent of star players, this period is almost entirely unknown to basketball fans. Claude Johnson has made it his mission to change that. An advocate fiercely committed to our history, for more than two decades Johnson has conducted interviews, mined archives, collected artifacts, and helped to preserve this historically important African American experience that otherwise would have been lost. The Black Fives (Abrams) is the result of his work, a landmark narrative history that braids together the stories of these forgotten pioneers and rewrites our understanding of the story of basketball. Johnson will be joined in conversation by Keith Houlemard, co-founder of the newly launched FOODe app and former President of the Jordan Brand at Nike and VP/GM of Nike’s Olympic Games division.

Preorder a Signed Edition

Venue

1005 W Burnside Street
Portland, OR 97209
+ Google Map
Phone
503-228-4651
View Venue Website

Organizer

Phone:
503-228-4651
Website:
View Organizer Website